Elisabeth Motsinger was born and raised in New York and moved to North Carolina as a young adult. She lives in Walkertown.

She completed physician assistant training at Wake Forest University, where she is currently working on a master's degree in bioethics.

Motsinger has worked as a physician assistant since 1989.

She has served on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County board of education since 2006.

Motsinger and her husband, John, have three children.

This is Elisabeth Motsinger's first run for Congress. She advocates for affordable health care, accessible quality public education, protecting the environment and access to jobs with livable wages.

"America is best served when we see her people as her highest resource," she says on her campaign website. "While our individuality is important and essential, the role of government is to protect and to promote the general welfare."

Motsinger says that while she understands and defends the right of religious organizations to not marry gay couples, this does not give them the right to deny marriage to people outside of their congregations.

"The institution of marriage should ideally be available to all couples who wish to participate," she says.

Regarding the Keystone XL pipeline project, which she opposes, Motsinger says in a YouTube video that the deal is being "sold to Americans under false pretenses" because the oil is not meant for domestic consumption but rather for exportation to the rest of the world. She says that climate change is happening because of oil consumption by humans and that the U.S. needs to focus on creating renewable sources of energy.